Jaipal Reddy hurls quota slur on govt

Hyderabad: Former Union Minister S Jaipal Reddy on Wednesday said the State government lacks "sincerity" in implementing reservation for Muslims. The Telangana legislature on April 16 passed a bill, raising the reservation for backward Muslims and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs and educational institutions.

Addressing reporters here, the senior Congress leader questioned why did the K Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS government waited for three years, after coming to power, to pass the bill. "If they (government) are sincere, why they waited for three years to bring the bill. They know that the bill needs Presidential assent. They will just pass the next two years without doing anything in that regard," Jaipal Reddy said.

Criticising the "attitude" of the State government, the former Union Minister said the State government lacked "sincerity" in implementing the quota for Muslims. "If the bill is sent for the Presidential assent then it would just lie there. There will not be burial also. (The bill will neither be accepted nor rejected)," he said.

The then Congress government in united Andhra Pradesh under late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy had given four per cent reservations to Muslims. Under the bill passed by the legislature on Saturday, the quota for STs would be increased to 10 per cent from the existing 6 per cent, while that for BC-E category (the backward sections among the Muslim community) would go up to 12 per cent from the existing 4 per cent.